Opened in 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a steely compound tunneled 500 feet into an icy mountain in Spitsbergen, part of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. Located just 800 miles from the North Pole, it’s intentionally difficult to find—and even more difficult to access—and it’s no exaggeration to say it may one day save the Earth from human extinctio

Beyond the years covered in the beloved Little House on the Prairie series, and before the books made Ingalls a household name, Laura and her husband, Almanzo, tended an orchard in Missouri, growing Missouri Pippin and Ben Davis apples. Both varieties are part of the Seed Savers Exchange collection and are offered on the Exchange.

With the start of each new year at Seed Savers Exchange come seed orders from gardeners across the country who are eagerly anticipating another spring of growing heirloom and open-pollinated vegetables and flowers. And 2018, I discovered last week, was no different. As I pitched in with order fulfillment, I plucked packet after packet of seeds from sturdy cardboard trays, helping to fill orders from customers from Massachusetts to California and seemingly every state in between. Perhaps inevitably, I also pondered this question:

Each variety preserved in Seed Savers Exchange’s collection is a unique piece of a grand genetic puzzle and, as such, may hold the key to solving one of the world’s most pressing problems: crop susceptibility to drought, pests, or disease.

When Ed Spevak of the St. Louis Zoo's Center for Native Pollinator Conservation began working with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska on issues of food sovereignty, food security, and pollinator health, he knew exactly where to turn for the heirloom corn, beans, and squash the Winnebago—part of the Ho-Chunk Nation—sought.

This summer, I drove halfway across the country to rural Iowa to take the helm of Seed Savers Exchange. I decided to make the journey into a listening and tasting tour of sorts. Throughout the trip, I was reminded time and again of why the work Seed Savers Exchange does with your support is so important to us all.

Seed Savers Exchange’s upcoming online exhibit, Legacy Donors, focuses on a select few of our longest-term members, like George McLaughlin, whose passions for gardening and seed saving have been foundational in our upbringing as an organization.

Food is central to holiday gatherings and often a celebration isn't complete without that one dish. These traditions bind us to the past and give us reason to celebrate now: another year has come and gone, and here we are again, gathered together. These recipes, curated by our staff, evoke just that.

“Children are instinctively fascinated with the hidden abilities of a seed—even one tiny bean becomes an opportunity to educate about the origin of our food,” said Diane Ott Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange co-founder, of the organization’s Herman’s Garden Seed Donation Program in 2014. “I have seen the joy a simple packet of seed can bring to children and adults alike.”

Seed Savers Exchange Blog

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit, member supported organization that collects, preserves and shares heirloom seeds for our future. Since 1975, SSE and our supporters have collected the seeds and stories that would otherwise have been lost.